Earth Alliance Civil War
The Earth Alliance Civil War was an armed conflict brought about by a division in Earthforce and the citizens of the Earth Alliance over the conduct and policies of EA President Morgan Clark and his regime. The Conspiracy of Light and the Declaration of Martial Law thumb|left|[[Sarah, Sheridan's contact]] Earthforce's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General William Hague, had suspected for a long time that Clark was involved in the assassination of former President Luis Santiago, and had begun a low-level counter-conspiracy that included Captain John Sheridan. Because of Sheridan's war record, Clark thought he would be an anti-alien warhawk that would support him. However, Clark failed to realize that Sheridan was by nature a truth-seeker and considered aliens to be potential allies. Sheridan eventually persuaded the Babylon 5 command staff officers to join the counter-conspiracy. All Alone in the Night thumb|[[Everett Jacobs on the run.]] A year after ascending to the presidency, Clark's doctor gave testimony that Clark's claim that a case of the flu kept him off of Earth Force One was a lie, that he hadn't been sick at all. Hunter, Prey In danger of the truth of his assassination conspiracy coming to light, President Clark acted quickly: citing the destruction of an Earth Alliance base on Ganymede, which he falsely pinned on the then-unknown White Star (see [[Messages from Earth|"Messages from Earth"]], President Clark declared martial law throughout the Earth Alliance. Messages from Earth Earthforce troops stormed the Senate building to put a stop to any impeachment hearings, then stormed the office of the military Chiefs of Staff who weren't loyal to Clark. Military patrols were then put on the streets in every major Earth city. Point of No Return The Interstellar Network News revealed that they had been intimidated into keeping quiet about what they knew about what Clark was doing the last year as Earthforce troops descended on the ISN building and cut the transmission. Hague's Coup and Colonial Secession Before he could be captured, General Hague attempted an unsuccessful counter-insurgency. With only few Omega class destroyers Hague tried to escape the Solar System at the Io Jump Gate transfer point, but was intercepted by a Clark-loyal fleet. Only Hague's own flagship was able to escape, the [[EAS Alexander|EAS Alexander]]. thumb|left|[[General William Hague's ships engage loyalist forces at Io.]] The governor of Mars publicly stated that he would defy Clark's order and not implement martial law. In retaliation, President Clark ordered the full scale carpet bombing of civilian population centers on Mars. Other outer planets like Orion VII and Proxima III had seceded from the Earth Alliance in protest, and set themselves up as independent states. Earthforce achieved space superiority over Orion VII and Proxima III, which were now cut off; Earthforce was now occupying Mars, and though there was fierce ground fighting the Martians were losing. Effectively, Babylon 5 was the only Earth Alliance planet or base that President Clark did not control. Lt. [[General O'Reilly passes Hague's final message: "Everything's gone to hell, John. God help us all. You're on your own"|thumb]] The EAS Alexander stopped at Babylon 5 for repairs, as Captain Sheridan said they would render humanitarian aid in repairing them. Unfortunately, General Hague had died from wounds en-route. Then Captain Hiroshi's [[EAS Churchill|EAS Churchill]], another Hague-loyal Omega-class destroyer, arrived at B5. In a public transmission, Sheridan announced Babylon 5 had declared its independence of the Earth Alliance, seceding to "function as an independent state until President Clark is removed from office". [[image:Babylon5BB5I02.jpg|thumb|left|''" . . . if you value your lives, be somewhere else."]] An Earthforce fleet including two Omega class destroyers, the ''Agrippa and Roanoke, and many wings of Starfuries were headed for Babylon 5 to arrest the command staff and put it under jurisdiction of Nightwatch. In the resulting battle the EAS Churchill was critically damaged and rammed one of the Clark-loyal ships, destroying both. Babylon 5's defense grid fired the final volleys to destroy the other, as opposing Starfuries engaged in dogfights and Clark-loyal soldiers boarded the station, resulting in costly fighting against the Babylon 5 security forces and Narn supporters. Ultimately, the Minbari Delenn intervened, promising to destroy any Earthforce ships that tried to attack Babylon 5. The Earthforce Ships retreated. Babylon 5 would become the bastion of opposition against Clark. Severed Dreams Proxima III and the Road to Mars Babylon 5 took only limited action against President Clark until midway through the next year, having taken a central role in an alliance of alien races in the fight against the Shadows. After the Shadows and Vorlons joined the remaining First Ones beyond the Rim, Clark lost his allies amongst the Shadows, becoming obsessed with Babylon 5 since it was outside his control. Knowing that Sheridan and his supporters would come after him sooner or later, he used ISN to launch a propaganda war against the station in an attempt to destroy Babylon 5's credibility. To counter Clark's campaign of half-truths and outright lies, the Voice of the Resistance was created, with Commander Susan Ivanova as its spokesperson. A few months after VoR started broadcasting, it was learned that Earthforce ships loyal to Clark had attacked several civilian passenger vessels attempting to leave an contested area. At Clark's order, the ships opened fire on the transports, killing 10,000 people who had no possible way to fight back to set an "example", as one person put it. Furious over the killing of innocent civilians, Sheridan finally declared "enough is enough", deciding to go on the offensive against Clark in September of 2261. Starting with Proxima III, Sheridan used ships from the White Star fleet to engage Clark's forces blockading the planet, which resulted in the destruction of the EAS Pollux and severe damage to two other destroyers before the order to surrender was finally given. Offering the remaining captains a chance to join up, several defected to Sheridan's side. No Surrender, No Retreat Having secured Proxima, over the next several weeks Sheridan began a systematic campaign against Clark's forces, The Exercise of Vital Powers taking great care not to kill Earthforce personnel unless left with no other choice. Frantically searching for a way to halt the enemy's momentum towards Earth, as well as trying to staunch the flow of ships and people from Earthforce who had defected to follow Sheridan's cause, Clark's forces captured Sheridan's father, who had gone underground on Earth. Transferring command of the combined force to Ivanova, Sheridan headed to a clandestine meeting with a contact on Mars in the hopes of staging an operation to free his father, although this was later revealed to be a setup.The Face of the Enemy Captured and tortured for over a week, Sheridan refused to be broken. Eventually rescued by Garibaldi, [Lyta Alexander] and Dr. Franklin, he returned to the fleet. Gathering a force of advanced model destroyers which had been fitted with Shadow technology, Clark attempted to set up an ambush for Sheridan's (now under the command of Ivanova) fleet, but the plans were revealed to Ivanova by defecting Earthforce officers. Taking the White Stars with her, she proceeded to the ambush site to engage the destroyers. Her forces were successful in eliminating the advanced ships, but it it came at a price: Ivanova's own White Star was destroyed and she was severely wounded in the battle. Homecoming As the majority of Earthforce by now was either allied with Sheridan, destroyed, or otherwise incapacitated, the rebels coordinated with the Martian resistance to defeat Clark's remaining forces in orbit over Mars. Selecting the [[EAS_Agamemnon|EAS Agamemnon]] for his flagship as a last favor to Ivanova, Sheridan resumed command over the fleet. In a last-ditch effort to fend off Sheridan's advance, a fleet of 35 Omega-class destroyers commanded by General Robert Leftcourt, was deployed to Mars. With the help of the Martian resistance, Sheridan's people smuggled Shadow-altered telepaths onboard the destroyers, hiding them among the ships' regular cargo. Upon receiving a telepathic signal from Lyta, they awoke, finding the first open computer terminal they could and merging with it. Neutralizing at least 20 of out of the 35 without firing a shot, the remaining ships were easily overwhelmed and disabled by Sheridan's White Stars. Finally giving the resistance on Earth the support they needed, Sheridan's forces jumped from Mars into Earth orbit. Led by Senator Crosby, a group of civilians and military personnel marched on Clark's office in Earthdome with the intention of placing him under arrest. Realizing that he would soon be captured, Clark committed suicide with a PPG. In one last vindictive act, he turned the planetary defense grid towards Earth, leaving a note with the words "Scorched Earth" as the only clue to his intentions. Apart from the projectile and other weapons installed on each platform, the particle beam weapons alone had the capability to destroy 40% of the planet's surface. Supported by a coalition fleet of alien ships led by the Minbari, Centauri, Narn and the League worlds, Sheridan and his forces quickly moved to destroy the platforms, eliminating almost all of them, but not without taking heavy damage. Her weapon systems disabled, the EAS Agamemmnon prepared to ram the last platform, destroying it before it could fire on Earth. However, Leftcourt's flagship, the [[EAS Apollo|EAS Apollo]], arrived at the last minute to engage and destroy the last platform. Endgame Aftermath and Political Fallout After Clark's suicide, Susanna Luchenko of the Russian Consortium was named President. Rising Star Former ISN reporters were freed, and returned almost immediately to their jobs. ISN was no longer the new order's propaganda arm. President Luchenko announced that the justice department would prosecute those who had committed crimes during Clark's reign of terror. She forced Sheridan to resign; he agreed to do so after Luchenko offered amnesty to those who had followed Sheridan. Once Sheridan got her to agree to put the amnesty in writing, he resigned as an Earth Force officer, and was soon elected President of the newly formed Interstellar Alliance. After the end of hostilities, in exchange for the Mars Resistance's aid, Sheridan secured Mars's independence. References Category:Conflicts